Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon Tart
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the lemon filling
Moisten the cornflour with a little water.
Bring the rest of the water to a boil with the lemon juice, grated lemon rind, and sugar.
Thicken the mixture with the cornflour and let it simmer for a few minutes.
Set the mixture aside to cool.
Beat the eggs and mix them with the cooled mixture.
Assemble and bake
Line a flat dish or soup plate with the pastry made from wheatmeal and butter.
Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry shell.
Cover the tart with thin strips of pastry in a diamond shape.
Bake the tart at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs mixed into the cooled filling help it thicken and set when baked.
- Cornflour
- Starch that thickens the lemon juice and water mixture as it heats.
- Butter
- Fat that gives the pastry richness and a tender, crumbly texture.
- Fine wheatmeal
- Flour that forms the pastry shell and lattice, giving structure to hold the filling.
- Lemon
- Juice and grated rind supply the sharp acidity and aroma of the filling.
The step that matters
Thicken the mixture with the cornflour and let it simmer. Cornflour only thickens fully when the mixture is brought to a simmer and held there for a few minutes; starch that is not heated enough stays thin and the filling may not set properly after baking.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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